Somewhere near the end of this recent trip, a fairly quiet, benign sounding clunk appeared in the front end of the ES.

Went investigating today, and it appears to be coming from the steering box. Took the filler plug off, and I can see the gears, so.. most definitely low.

First thing I'll do, of course, is top it up. But, I don't expect that'll take care of the clunk.

I considered trying to adjust it out, but.. there is no looseness in steering, so I'm rather wary to tighten that up.

Could it be up/down play in the vertical shaft that could be shimmed up inside the cover? I just don't have much (any) experience with steering boxes beyond filling, adjusting, and replacing them.

Outside of that, ball joints, tie rods, idler arm all are tight. Unfortunately, one of lower A-arm bushings is less than perfect, so I'll be replacing those and doing a more thorough inspection of everything else in the process. But that's most definitely not where the clunk is. No way I could move that by moving a tire side to side.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[edit] I should add, I only get this clunk by move the tire side to side. Not top to bottom, and not by moving the steering wheel.


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-Matt I ♥ my ♂